Shared art

Funnybook Babylon has a post up, An Impassioned Plea to Marvel Comics, a commentary on the news that Uncanny X-Men will soon have two artists sharing the work--Greg Land and Terry Dodson.

I don't read Uncanny X-Men. If Brubaker writing it didn't bring me to it, no possible artist could. So I'm not casting a money vote one way or another. But I'm still happy to talk about it!

I don't think I've ever read a book illustrated by Land, although I've certainly heard a lot about him on the internet, as I'm sure you all have. Therefore I've only seen occasional out-of-context scans online, and have no idea whether they are representative.

I have read Dodson's Wonder Woman and absolutely loved the art. Gorgeous. If I were inclined to pick up books based on art alone, that might do it. (I'm not, so it won't.)

I think it can work to have more than one artist on a book. It certainly did on Captain America, with Steve Epting and Mike Perkins in different issues (hell, in at least one issue they each did pages, and it worked!). And, with so many artists these days seeming to have trouble completing a monthly book (in fairness I will say that, on the whole, the art now is superior to what I saw in the comics I read as a kid, and likely takes longer to do), having more than one artist to a book could be a real plus in terms of eliminating the late book problem.

However, I also think that if you're going to do this, the artists who are sharing the work really ought to be somewhat similar in style--or at least complementary. Epting and Perkins are an excellent example--it was certainly apparent when each artist was drawing the book, but it wasn't at all distracting from the story because they both seemed to be aiming at the same target. From what I've seen, Land and Dodson have quite different artistic styles. I'm not sure it'll make for a cohesive whole, you know?